Sacramento’s retail and restaurant workers can’t afford the city’s rent. R Street housing community aims to change that

Brittany Davidick works at a clothing shop on downtown Sacramento’s R Street, but says she can’t afford to live there. She had to move out of the city’s Midtown neighborhood after rent got too high, and now lives in Roseville. 

“I used to live in Midtown for like five years, but it was too pricey,” Davidick told CapRadio. “So, I am at home with my mom at the moment.” 

Sacramento city officials say workers like Davidick in the city’s retail and restaurant sectors, and other industries, shouldn’t have to move miles away to afford a home. 

They’re hoping a new 241-unit affordable housing community on R Street, called Monarch, will make a dent in that growing problem. The housing complex is being built on land once used for state government storage, part of Governor Gavin Newsom’s push to convert underused state properties into housing.

RJ Hill, who runs a nearby record shop, says affordability is key to keeping downtown vibrant.

“I think it's extremely important that we have affordable housing for folks, government subsidized housing,” Hill said. “Glad that they're making progress on more affordable housing.”

Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty said at a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday that Monarch will create 20 apartments for people experiencing homelessness. It should also keep more downtown and Midtown workers living nearby.

“This is affordable housing for multiple income levels,” McCarty added. “Not just low income, but working poor people that have jobs that work down here in the restaurants and you know retail that are having trouble affording rent. This will be for them.”

The region’s need for affordable homes remains staggering. More than 54,000 low-income renter households in Sacramento County do not have access to an affordable home, according to a California Housing Partnership report issued last month.

The Monarch apartments will rent well below market rate, said Craig Adelman, chief executive officer at Mutual Housing California, the project’s developer. Households who earn up to 70 percent of the area's median income, or about $62,000 dollars per year, will be eligible to apply.

“We are establishing permanent affordability,” Adelman said, “for people who are to work in the jobs that serve not only this corridor, but the city as a whole in its core without having to move miles and miles outside of the area.”

The new community will have first-floor commercial space, including a 500-square-foot café space and 9,500-square-foot office space, according to Mutual Housing California. It will also include 264 secure bike storage spaces and 34 parking spaces. Other amenities will include an event courtyard, private resident courtyard and laundry rooms on each floor. 

Marketing and outreach will focus on the area’s “artists with affordable housing needs,” the developer said. 

Monarch is slated to open in 2027.